Sources: Tucker to finish year for Caha, TAMIU loses to No. 2 LCU

TAMIU head coach Jeff Caha is 4-44 in two seasons as head coach of the Dustdevils.

Photo: Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times

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Assistant coach Tori Tucker, right, took over the TAMIU women’s basketball team during Saturday’s 69-46 loss to No. 2 Lubbock Christian. Sources told LMT that she would be taking over the program the restAssistant coach Tori Tucker, right, took over the TAMIU women’s basketball team during Saturday’s 69-46 loss to No. 2 Lubbock Christian. Sources told LMT that she would be taking over the program the rest of the season for Jeff Caha and that she would be assisted by men’s basketball assistant Jeremy Espinoza, left.

Photo: Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times

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TAMIU’s Tantashea Giger

Photo: Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times File

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The Dustdevils host second-place Arkansas-Fort Smith Thursday in their Pink Game and seventh-place Rogers State Saturday on Senior Day looking to break a 13-game losing skid. TAMIU has one senior in guard ReneeThe Dustdevils host second-place Arkansas-Fort Smith Thursday in their Pink Game and seventh-place Rogers State Saturday on Senior Day looking to break a 13-game losing skid. TAMIU has one senior in guard Renee Contreras.

Photo: Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times

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TAMIU’s Jaden Gonzalez

Photo: Cuate Santos /Laredo Morning Times

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Assistant coach Tori Tucker, right, took over the TAMIU women’s basketball team during Saturday’s 69-46 loss to No. 2 Lubbock Christian. Sources told LMT that she would be taking over the program the restAssistant coach Tori Tucker, right, took over the TAMIU women’s basketball team during Saturday’s 69-46 loss to No. 2 Lubbock Christian. Sources told LMT that she would be taking over the program the rest of the season for Jeff Caha and that she would be assisted by men’s basketball assistant Jeremy Espinoza, left.

An undermanned Texas A&M International women’s basketball team wasn’t just without two starters on Saturday afternoon, it was also without its head coach.

TAMIU’s Jeff Caha was not on the sidelines as his team battled one of the best teams in the country. Without him, the Dustdevils lost 69-46 to No. 2 Lubbock Christian dropping their 12th straight game.

Caha may not be leading the Dustdevils for a while. Multiple sources close to the program who wished to remain anonymous during the process told LMT that the head coach has been replaced by assistant coach Tori Tucker for the remainder of the season but that he has not been fired.

When asked about his absence, Caha would only direct LMT to athletic director Griz Zimmerman for potential comments. When Zimmerman was approached about Caha potentially missing the rest of the season, the athletic director would only say, "He’s not here today."

In an emailed statement to LMT, TAMIU director of public relations Steve Harmon said, “This is a personnel matter under review that we cannot comment on at this time.”

If Tucker is indeed taking over as an interim coach, it will be her first stint leading a school. The Portales, New Mexico native played for Caha at ENMU for two seasons before she was an assistant coach at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas last year. She averaged 12.9 points and six rebounds per game for the Zias — now known as Greyhounds — shooting 41.1 percent from the floor, 37.3 percent from 3 and 90.1 percent from the free-throw line. She was also second-team All-Lone Star Conference as a senior.

Tucker was joined Saturday on the sidelines by Jeremy Espinoza, an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. Women’s basketball assistant coach Hannah Beede was also not present Saturday. Espinoza joined the TAMIU men’s program at the beginning of this season after spending the previous two years as a graduate assistant at Newman. The Uvalde, Texas native was twice an All-Heartland Conference honorable mention on the court for the Jets. He also still served his duties Saturday for the men’s team.

Caha is 4-44 in his two seasons leading the Dustdevils prior to Saturday’s outing. The loss to LCU gives TAMIU a 12-game losing streak — the largest in school history inside of one season. They also are 0-8 in Heartland Conference play, their longest winless start since going 0-2 during their inaugural season in 2003-04 out of the NAIA’s Red River Athletic Conference.

The Dustdevils are coming off their worst season ever at 2-25 during the 2016-17 campaign. Combined with their 0-8 start to begin this season and their nine-game losing streak to end the last one, the program set a new record with a 17-game losing streak earlier this year.

Caha, the fifth coach in the 15-year history of TAMIU women’s basketball, is in his first stint as a head coach after spending the previous two years as the associate head coach at Eastern New Mexico. He also had been an assistant head coach since 2003-04 at four schools including California Baptist, Cochise College, Southwestern Oklahoma State and Southern Nazarene.

Without Caha, the Dustdevils took the floor facing a stiff test welcoming in the nation’s No. 2-ranked team and 2015-16 national champion Lubbock Christian (21-1, 10-0 Heartland). But much like their first meeting in Lubbock, TAMIU kept the game closer than expected throughout. The Lady Chaps pushed the lead to over 20 in the fourth quarter before winning 69-46. In their only other game on Jan. 4, LCU won 73-53.

The Lady Chaps improved to 21-1 this season including 10-0 in Heartland Conference play. They are now 55-7 all-time against Heartland opponents.

"It was a tall task but I think they really came out and fought," Tucker said. "We had our lulls like we’ve had, but I don’t think they ever stopped trying or stopped fighting. It was as much of a new experience for me as it was for them, and they did a good job. I’m very proud of all of them."

The Dustdevils were also without two key players as the team was missing starting point guard Ashley Perez (planter fascia tear) and center Veshae Asaua-Wilkinson (concussion). Caha said this week he hopes Perez — the league’s No. 2 player in assists per game (4.8) and assist/turnover ratio (1.8) — will be able to return at some point this year while there is no timetable for Asaua-Wilkinson (7.6 pts, 5.6 reb).

Yet with all their losses, the group had a very balanced offensive game. Three players scored in double figures led by freshman guard Vanessa Oyola as she came off the bench with a career-high 12 points and 19 minutes, sinking four triples. On the entire season, she previously had only 12 points over 62 minutes in 13 games.

Junior forward Julia Hanni finished with 11 points and two boards while guard Passionate Amukamara had 10 points and two assists.

The rest of the Dustdevils’ guards each struggled with their shot, however. Leading scorer Tantashea Giger (14.6 pts) was held to five points on 2 of 12 shooting with six rebounds and three assists. Dannia Gonzalez grabbed six boards in 16 minutes but missed seven of her eight attempts and guard Jaden Gonzales was the primary point guard despite starting on the bench and was held scoreless on seven missed shots with four rebounds in 31 minutes. Starting point guard Renee Contreras was also 0 of 2 with two boards in 19 minutes.

"Vanessa comes in and goes 4-for-9 and seemed like a flamethrower out there. I couldn’t be more proud of her. Everybody had good playing time so I’m pretty proud of everybody," Tucker said. "We are not a bad shooting team, granted our stats don’t always show it. If she can continue that confidence going forward — Jaden is a great shooter, Tantashea is a great shooter and they all are very capable. We just have to shoot with confidence. Sometimes they hesitate and then decide to shoot instead of catching and letting it fly."

Lubbock Christian shot 45.7 percent on the day while holding TAMIU to 29.1 percent (16 of 55). The Dustdevils did hit four 3s out of 18 although all of them were by Oyola as the rest of the team was 0 of 9.

Despite their extreme height advantage, LCU won the battle on the glass only 38-31 and points in the paint 20-6. The Lady Chaps also had a slim edge in second-chance points (6-5) and turnovers (18-15) while TAMIU led the way in steals (11-7) and bench points (25-21).

"When you are in this situation, it’s all new and all you have is each other. They did a great job of showing that," Tucker said. "I couldn’t have been more proud. To have been my first coaching experience, it couldn’t have been more fun. To see them fight that hard through adversity was very nice. I think they communicated well together and with me. We all relied on each other to get things done. They’re really good kids and really want to work."

TAMIU will be on the road next week as the team will play sixth-place Oklahoma Christian (7-14, 3-6) Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before heading out to Wichita, Kansas to take on second-place Newman (16-8, 7-3) Saturday at 1.